39 Holywell Street has an eighteenth-/nineteenth-century front on an earlier building, possibly a seventeenth-century core. It is owned by Wadham College. On the right is a back entrance to the King’s Arms.
It is a Grade II Listed Building (1047237), with the following details:
No 39 SP 5106 NE 6/189 II GV 2.
House and shop. A Cl8-19 front on an earlier building possibly a C17 core. Two-storeyed stuccoed rubble with cellars, a projecting moulded eaves cornice and a parapet, behind which are two attic dormers in a Welsh slate roof. The stacks are of brick. In the ground floor is a double shop front and in the first floor are four tall sash windows in moulded wood frames with cornices, all have glazing bars. Altered 1971.
It appears that Robert Langford, head butler of Wadham College, had a grocer's shop here. He died on 5 April 1762, his eldest son Robert Langford junior died at the age of 24 on 2 January 1773, and his widow Elizabeth Langford died 22 April 1775
A notice of the forthcoming auction of these leasehold premises was announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 18 September 1847:
Lot 1.—All those desirable BUSINESS PREMISES, now in the occupation of Mr. John Walker, grocer, &c. containing, on the ground floor, a good front shop, private side entrance, and front parlour, with kitchen, back ditto, small yard, out offices, pump of good water, &c. behind the same; on the first floor, two excellent sitting rooms, and two ditto bed chambers; and three bed chambers and store room over; and in the basement, two good cellars and other conveniences.
The above premises are held by lease under Wadham College, for a term of 20 years, from 25th March, 1845; present Quit rent, £3 8s.
Lot 2 was a large warehouse St Helen's Passage opposite also in the occupation of John Walker.
Hope House Boarding & Day School started life here in 1859, run solely by Alfred Barling, before he moved his school in June 1861 to larger premises at 26 Holywell Street.
On 10 May 1955 Wadham was granted planning permission (application 55/04421/A_H) to convert the top two floors (39C) to undergraduate accommodation. The building was then numbered as follows:
- 39A: Shop
- 39B: Offices
- 39C: Rooms for undergraduates on first and second floors.
39 Holywell Street in the censuses
1841
The 1841 census for Holywell does not give house numbers, but it is possible to deduce where people listed that year lived by examining directory entries between 1839 and 1842 and later censuses
Not listed: possibly vacant.
1851
Abraham Walker (29), a master groom employing one man, lived here with his sister Caroline (27), who acted as his housekeeper, and one servant. Two graduates were lodging with them.
1861
Alfred Barling (29), a private schoolmaster, lived here with his wife Sara (31), his four-year-old nephew, and a 13-year-old boarder. They had one female servant.
1871
George Gillman (28), a bootmaker employing four persons, lived here with his children Rose (23) and Sarah (16), plus his apprentice and one servant.
1881
Richard Gillman (31), a bootmaker, lived here with his wife Margaret (29) and his children William (5), Grace and Bertha (both 4), Percy (2), and Ethel (4 months). They had a nurse and a general servant.
1891
Margaret Ann Gillman (39), now widowed and herself listed as a bootmaker, lived here with her children Grace and Bertha (both 14), Percy (12), Gertrude (10), and Ada (8). They had one servant.
1901
Margaret Gillman, described as a boot manufacturer, still lived here with her daughters Bertha (24) and Ada (18), who was a tailor.
1911
No listing.
1921
Richard William Gillman (46), a bootmaker and employer, was living here with his wife Amelia (47) and their two children.
1939 Register
The boot & shoe manufacturer & shopkeeper Richard W. Gillman was listed here with his wife Amelia.
Occupants of 39 Holywell Street listed in directories etc. |
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1772 |
Mrs Langford (probably to 1775) Prior to that date probably Robert Langford, grocer (died on 5 April 1762) |
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1830–1839 |
Paul Hicks, Grocer & cheesemonger (died mid-1839) |
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1842–1852 |
John Walker, Grocer (to 1847) |
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1861 |
Hope House Boarding & Day School |
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1866–1947 |
Richard Gillman, Boot maker by 1866 Gillman & Son, Boot maker; 1871; R. V. Gillman, 1872 Richard Gillman junior, Boot maker by 1881 Mrs Richard Gillman, Boot maker, 1899–1928 Richard William Gillman, Boot maker by 1933 |
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1949 |
Smith O'Conor (G. A. Nuttall-Smith & Mrs R. D. Nuttall-Smith) |
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1952–1954 |
Geoffrey Miller, Antique dealer (Holywell Antiques, W. H. Ridler in 1954) |
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1956–1969 |
Blackwell’s Music Shop (photographed in 1958) |
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1970–1976 |
No listing |
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Today |
Tuck Shop |
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